3 IU track athletes travel south for NCAA championships

As the rest of the Hoosier track-and-field team prepares for the outdoor season, three athletes are preparing for one last indoor meet – the NCAA national championships. \nThe three competing on March 9 and 10 in Fayetteville, Ark., are freshman pole vaulter Vera Neuenswander, junior triple jumper Kyle Jenkins and senior long jumper Kiwan Lawson. \nNeuenswander was named the Big Ten freshman of the year after setting a conference record. Her vault of 4.11 meters placed her in second in the Big Ten championships behind sophomore Mallory Peck of Purdue, who cleared the same height but on fewer attempts. Neuenswander is the highest ranked freshman at the pole vault in the nation at No. 13. She said she is excited to be going to nationals so early in her career.\n“It feels good to be going, feels like a lot of hard work has paid off,” Neuenswander said. “My coaches have been telling me that if I keep working hard, things will come together.”\nNeuenswander chose pole vaulting after giving up gymnastics in junior high school because of the easy transition between the two sports. She said the mentality of sprinting at a stationary apparatus in gymnastics really helped her when she started vaulting. \nThis year Neuenswander has been working with assistant coach Jake Wiseman on being more aggressive with take-offs and concentrating on her body position in the air.\n“Vera is a very hard worker and competitor,” Wiseman said. “She works every day and has done a lot of drill work to get where she is.”\nThere will be two IU jumpers competing this weekend on the men’s side.\nJenkins goes into the meet a Big Ten champion in the triple jump and ranks No. 12 in the nation. Lawson also goes into nationals a Big Ten champion in the long jump, ranking No. 7.\n“If both of them set personal bests in the meet, they will be right in the thick of things,” men’s interim head coach Wayne Pate said. “Unlike past years where there has been a real favorite going into these events, this year any one of the 16 athletes could win it. It all comes down to how they are doing that day, and who wants it more.”\nThis will be Jenkins’ first trip to nationals, while Lawson will be making his second consecutive trip.\n“Last year I hurt myself between Big Tens and the championships, so even though I ranked fifth or sixth, I finished dead last,” Lawson said. “It was nice to go, but it was bittersweet almost, in that I could go and see but not touch. I’m looking forward to being able to compete this year.”\nJenkins tweaked his hamstring earlier in the season, but Pate said the hamstring does not seem to be bothering Jenkins at all. Jenkins and Pate have been working on increasing Jenkins’ speed through his sprints and into his take-offs.\n“We have also been working on running and jumping taller,” Jenkins said. “And that has really helped my jumps.”\nHaving great jumpers is nothing new for IU. \nAarik Wilson won both the triple jump and long jump at the 2005 indoor championships. Wilson has since left school and now competes professionally.\nBoth Jenkins and Lawson attribute the program’s success to Pate, and both said he was the reason they chose to come to IU.\n“He has taught me a lot and he was the main reason I came here,” Jenkins said. “If you look at his resume, he has a lot of All-Americans in both the long and triple jump.”\nPate has coached 45 All-American jumpers, including seven NCAA champions.\n“We come to IU with talent, and then Coach brings even more of that talent out,” Lawson said. “He is like a magic man in that aspect. He saw how far I was jumping and told me I would jump farther. He doesn’t try to be a friend; he is a coach and tells me what to do and how I will benefit from it.”\nPate was reluctant in discussing the tradition of strong jumpers he has created at IU.\n“Call it whatever you want – a legacy, or just dumb luck,” Pate said. “It is just that jumping is my area of expertise, and I seem to be able to attract talented athletes.”